MUSU, MUTA say no to fact finding body constituted by Govt
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 14 2018:
MUSU, MUTA and MUSA have resolved not to give any cooperation to the fact finding committee constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development to probe into the charges levelled against Vice Chancellor Prof AP Pandey.
A decision to this effect was adopted at a meeting of the executive members of MUSU, MUTA and MUSA today.
On the other hand, terming the fact finding committee as a hogwash, MUSU today burnt effigies of the Union HRD Minister and the members of the fact finding committee.
UGC Joint Secretary JK Triparthi and HRD Ministry, Central University Division Deputy Secretary Surat Singh are the two members of the fact finding committee which was constituted by an order issued by the HRD Ministry on July 12.The committee of which the MU Registrar is the nodal person should submit their report within one month.
Contending that the fact finding committee is unacceptable, MUSU burnt effigies of HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, fact finding committee members JK Triparthi, Surat Singh and nodal person Prof M Shyamkesho who is also the Registrar in-charge of MU in front of the university's main gate this afternoon.
As MUSU members brought out the effigies, police prevented them from bringing out the effigies beyond the university's gate.
This resulted in a brief altercation between the two sides.
Nonetheless, the students brought but the effigies and burnt them in front of the gate.
The students also shouted a number of slogans.
MUSU president M Dayaman said that the Government of India may constitute a committee to probe into the charges levelled against VC Prof Pandey but the low level fact finding committee constituted by the HRD Ministry is unacceptable.
The initiative of constituting the fact finding committee looks like a conspiracy and the Ministry has been always standing on the side of the VC.
Students, teachers and staff of the university have been staging only democratic modes of agitation but some mercenaries committed arson targeting properties of MU with a sinister design to project the ongoing agitation in wrong light, Dayaman said.
Taking advantage of the particular incident of arson, students and teachers of MU have been called anti-National.
The VC was saying that the agitation was launched for not sanctioning money for publication of annual magazine.
Some days later, Prof Pandey claimed that the ongoing agitation is connected with a monetary demand served to him by a UG group.
Despite such inconsistency on the part of the VC, the HRD Ministry has been always standing on the side of the VC.
As such, the fact finding committee set up by the Ministry is unacceptable, said the MUSU president.
Rather than condoning the guilty VC, the Government of India should dismiss him immediately and a high level enquiry committee should be instituted to probe all the charges against him, he demanded.
On the other hand, an executive meeting of MUSU, MUTA and MUSA was held at 11.30 am today with MUTA president Prof I Tomba in the chair.
The meeting deliberated on various interpretations and underlying implications of the constitution of the fact finding committee after six weeks of intense agitation by the university community.
Members present at the meeting expressed strong reservation against induction of Registrar in-charge Prof M Shyamkesho as nodal person of the fact finding committee as Prof Shyamkesho is also allegedly a suspect in the entire administrative and financial bungling.
Terming the constitution of the fact finding committee as an insincere attempt by the HRD Ministry to divert the demands of the university committee, the meeting resolved not to extend any cooperation to the fact finding committee.
Reiterating the demand for removal of VC Prof Pandey, the meeting resolved to demand an independent enquiry committee headed by a retired Chief Justice-of a High Court to look into the charges already accepted as 'grave' by the HRD Ministry.
The third resolution of the meeting says that any official involved with Prof AP Pandey in the complicity for financial and administrative mismanagement cannot be by any means involved in any capacity as official of any enquiry committee.
Comment
